Singapore

I finally got a three-day weekend so I decided to get out of the country and head to Singapore. After my mom had come came back from Singapore in July, she told me I would love it there so I called her cousin, Louise, and asked if I could stay for a couple of days. Thankfully she and her husband had no problem with me staying so I bought my ticket and prepared for my journey. I left very early on a Monday after a night out with my co-workers so I was extremely tired. I probably only got 4 or 5 hours of sleep, but I planned to sleep on the plane. Once I got to the airport I quickly checked in and grabbed a free wifi card and went to sit near my gate. The flight left a little later than usual but still made good time into Singapore. It was beautiful and sunny when I arrived and it was so easy to get a taxi, thankfully the taxi driver had a GPS and he just entered Louise's address then we were on our way.  I took the taxi at low time so the fare was not as high as I was expecting which was a nice surprise. The one thing I immediately noticed about Singapore was how green it was. The road ways and neighborhoods were full of greenery, it was so beautiful. Once I got to Louise's house I settled in and Louise had cooked me a lovely lunch of chicken and salad. We sat and had lunch together while coming up with a game plan. Louise was incredibly nice and was going to take me around Singapore which I was extremely grateful for. So she handed me a public transportation card and we were on our way to our first stop, Orchard Road.

 Orchard Road is this incredible road filled with numerous stores, hotels, restaurants, and shopping centers. It was like being in heaven and hell at the same time. Heaven to see all the wonderful stores, but hell because I couldn't afford to buy anything. Orchard Road was also decorated beautifully for Christmas, there were loads of beautifully decorated Christmas trees and Christmas paraphernalia. Many of the stores fronts had beautiful displays of lights and fashion. We wandered up and down Orchard Road walking in and out of shopping centers each one even more spectacular than the last. As we continued down the road we made it to the Raffles area to see St. Andrew's Cathedral unfortunately the Cathedral was closed but we were able to check out the neighboring area. We stopped across the street at Chijmes, a former monastery converted into shops and restaurants. It was so beautiful and there were loads of places to sit outside and eat. I really enjoyed wandering around the halls and looking at the old architecture.

After we checked out the old church we went back to the entrance and crossed the street to check out Raffles Hotel.  Raffles is this gorgeous white hotel that was remodeled in the 90s and is the premier hotel in Singapore. It has a long list of celebrity visitors and won't even allow you inside unless you have a reservation. Fortunately the hotel employees let me have a peak in through the front doors and from what I saw of the lobby I knew this was an amazing hotel. We walked around the Raffles compound which was full of greenery and amazing landscaping. I  was able to peak into a couple of windows and was able to see the game room and one of the restaurants. Everything was impeccable and perfectly detailed. Even the landscaping was done so that the guests had the up most privacy from outsiders. After walking around a bit more Louise and I started to head back to Orchard Road to one of the shopping centers to meet Joe, Louise's husband, for dinner at this great dim sum restaurant. There was a decent line to the restaurant which was ok because we were still waiting for Joe and they didn't let people in if their whole party wasn't there. So while we waited we picked out food for dinner and when Joe arrived we conferred with him, put in our order all before we even sat down. While you waited you could also watch the chefs prepare fresh dim sum. I couldn't wait to have dinner because I knew it was going to be good. We waited outside for about 10 minutes and after we sat we waited maybe another 10 minutes till the food began to arrive. We ordered so much food I didn't think we could finish it all but I just couldn't stop eating it was so delicious.

We had such a lovely dinner; Joe, who I never meet before, was absolutely wonderful and welcoming. He was very easy to talk to and made me feel so welcome. Once we were finished with dinner Joe decided to drive us around the city to show me what the skyline looked like at night. He also wanted to drive me down Orchard Road to show me it all lit up with Christmas lights, driving down Orchard road made me feel like I was at home and even made me miss home. It was incredibly nice of them to drive me around and I was truly grateful. We got home relatively early, but after my long day of traveling and exploring I was thoroughly exhausted. When I finally sat on my bed I literally fell asleep. I had one of my most restful nights of sleep in a long time.
The next morning I got to sleep in a little bit late because Louise needed to finish some things with a property they were going to rent out so when I woke up I had some a small but very delicious breakfast of toast and cheese. Oh how much I miss cheese and proper bread. Once she finished everything we were on our way to a day of exploring what Singapore had to offer. We were going to start our day in Chinatown but first we needed to stop at Louise and Joe's fitness/ country club so that Louise could order a roast for Christmas dinner. It was an impressive club with everything you could need including a movie theater, pool, barber shop, salon, spa, numerous restaurants, and a sports bar. The lobby was a decked out in Christmas decorations with a huge Christmas Tree front and center and even a life size gingerbread house made with real gingerbread, royal icing, and candy.

After the roast was ordered we hopped in a cab and made our way down to Chinatown. We were dropped off at what looked like a Hindu temple, which was really cool and the first one I had ever been too. I hope I am able to see more in the future I have a feeling when I go to India I will. It was a gorgeous temple full of so many statues and colors. There were murals in the prayer area, which I couldn't see because they were having a service but the complex was still impressive and beautiful. After the temple we walked through Chinatown stopping in at cute shops and we ended up in front of a Chinese Buddhist temple so we decided to explore. It too was very beautiful with so many amazing little details. On the walls there was floor to ceiling Buddhas in exact square shadow boxes. Each Buddha was slightly different but still all the same. The temple was mainly red and gold but it was so gorgeous and it just reminded me of what I stereotypically think of China.

After the temple we began walking towards the MRT and I stopped to buy my piece of art, which was my name written in Chinese. I really enjoy seeing my name spelt out in different languages, I just think it is really cool and I would like to have my name spelt out in as many languages as possible it could make a really cool art piece one day. As I was waiting for my name to be painted I was looking around the store and as I looked at this circular rack front and center I see my brother's name. Now it may not seem like that big of a deal, but all our life Gavin has not been a popular name so it is very rare to find his name written out anywhere so when I saw it front and center already made in Singapore I knew I had to buy it for him. After shopping some more we made it to the MRT and headed to Vivo City. At Vivo City we could see the island of Sentosa and could make our way there via the Monorail. First we had lunch at this great restaurant that was set up like buffet station style that made fresh organic meals. You could have crepes, salads, pasta, sandwiches, soups, etc. You could also drink fresh squeezed juices, which were absolutely delicious, I had a fresh squeezed raspberry lemonade. Louise and I decided to get a fresh vegetable crepe which was huge. It literally was bigger than the plate and could have easily feed two people. It was delicious and surprisingly filling. Once we had our fill we made our way to the monorail to go over to Sentosa. Sentosa is this island where Universal Studios is located as well as many other stores, restaurants, hotels, and family activities. Obviously the Universal Studios was much smaller than its American counterpart and had no Harry Potter world, but it still looked nice and could be pretty fun.

The Sentosa shopping area was quite impressive, the most impressive was this giant candy store with giant candy trees outside. Louise and I walked from the entrance of Sentosa all the way to the top. Thankfully the walkways were covered and when you had to go up there was escalators instead of stairs. Once we got to the top there was this Tiger Sky Tower, it was like rotating viewing tower that allowed you to see the Singapore skyline and all of Sentosa. It was a lovely view and it was also nice to sit down for a bit. Once we finished we made our way back to the monorail to make our trip to Gardens by the Bay. Gardens by the Bay is this new garden with the solar super trees and it just opened this year. It is right next to the the infamous Marina Bay Sands Hotel, which has three towers with what looks like a boat across the top. The top of the hotel has a pool that stretches the entire distance and is said to be amazing. I wish I could have gone up but I didn't want to pay money to just go view the pool and not be able to use it. Maybe next time I go back to Singapore I can go and check it out. We walked around Gardens by the Bay for a bit making our way to the domes where we caught a golf cart ride that took us around the entire gardens and gave us an idea of where everything was located. After touring the gardens we went in search of the solar super trees. They are truly amazing, we went up one of the trees to the walkway between the trees to get a pretty cool view of the gardens, the trees, and Singapore. Once we walked through the trees we began to walk back towards civilization so we could meet Joe for dinner.

Gardens by the Bay was impressive we didn't make it in to the gardens in the domes because we didn't have time and it was a bit pricey, maybe next time. The gardens all in all were nice and they are obviously still trying to grow foliage but in a couple of years the garden will be less cement and more green, I can't wait to see it. We began to walk towards the MRT but Louise thought it would be fun to walk around Marina Bay towards The Fullerton Hotel. We crossed the bay on the Helix Bridge then along part of the Grand Prix Racecourse in front of the Grand Prix grandstands. We passed the The Modern Art Museum that is quite impressive it looks like a giant white flower blooming we also saw the Espalanade Theater and Mall. The Espalande looks like a giant Durian which is the name that the locals have given it. As we were walking around the bay we saw these giant white balls being placed in the water. We were not sure if they were for an event going to happen or that had just happened, but there were people in boats who looked like they were both removing and putting the balls in the water so we were kind of uncertain what was going on. As we were walking in front of the grandstands we heard this loud sound that sounded like an air compressor in the distance and as we got closer to our destination the sound became louder and then we saw some of the large balls from the bay hung on a gate. When we approached we found out that the balls were non-biodegradable balls that were going to be used for the New Year's Eve festivities and after the event was over they were going to be deflated and used to create a dam.

 They were allowing the public to sign the balls with wishes and hopes for 2013. Louise and I both signed the ball and continued on our way because the clouds began to get a bit darker and we knew the rain was coming. As soon as we got in a cab the rains began and as we pulled up to Joe and Louise's club it began to pour. We sat out by the pool and awaited Joe with a glass of red wine. It was so nice to finally sit down, as Louise and I were relaxing we realized how much we actually walked and it was quite impressive. When Joe finally got there we ordered dinner, I ordered this amazing linguine pesto with clams. It was heavenly and I loved have proper Italian food. Then I had a superb chocolate cake and my day was finally complete. We got home relatively early again, I stayed up a bit more with Louise and Joe by joining them for a glass of wine by this time I was thoroughly exhausted and I had an early day the next day so I wanted to go to sleep early.
The next morning we had to get up early because we had to meet Miranda, Louise's daughter-in-law and her grandson, Max, at the Singapore Botanical Gardens. This was the number one attraction I wanted to see while I was in Singapore, I love walking through gardens and looking at the nature and flowers. There were tons of people and the garden consisted of numerous paths, shady, and open areas. As we were walking towards the National Orchid Garden, where we would meet Max and Miranda, we passed tons of uniquely decorated Christmas Trees done by local organizations and businesses. I believe they adopted a tree and then decorated it with a theme of their business, for example, the British Embassy had a tree and it had a crown as the star and had pictures of Will and Kate, Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles, and Union Jacks all over the tree.

 The trees were all really thought out and were so fun to see. Once we got Max we walked around the gardens for an hour while Miranda was in her Boot Camp class. Max is such an adorable baby he was so happy and active, he really hated not seeing us when he was in the stroller and would fuss if he hadn't seen us for a long time or if we weren't paying enough attention to him. For about a third of our walk he was holding my hand as I walked next to the stroller. When the heat started getting too much for us we made our way to this restaurant they always visit with Max after a day at the garden. They must go there a lot because the entire staff knew Max and he was very comfortable with them all. He didn't care when they would just pick him up and walk around the restaurant with him, Louise also had a comfortable rapport with the staff and the owner of the restaurant. We all had a glass of Orange Juice and relaxed for a bit and then it was time for Max to go home. Even though I got to spend a couple of hours with him, Max was such a fun baby and I was so sad to see him leave. Once they left we went to the National Orchid Garden. You all know how much I love Orchids so a visit to the Orchid Garden was a must, this was also the garden that Will and Kate visited when they were in Singapore so there was no way I was going to miss this place. It was relatively cheap to visit the garden, just $5 a person. Not only had Will and Kate visited this garden many other famous people and foreign dignitaries also made a stop here. As soon as you walked in there were loads of orchid bushes. There was multiple paths that lead you to different designated areas of the garden. We started off by going around the edge of the garden. There were numerous photos opportunities and so many varieties and colors of orchids. I was constantly stopping and taking pictures of all the new types of orchids I came across. I felt extremely sorry for Louise because she was constantly stopping while I would be distracted by an orchid. As we continued walking around the outer rim we made it to Burkhill Hall. It looked like a reception area for parties and a reception area for special dignitaries and guests to the garden. When we walked through the house we made our way to the VIP garden. In this section of the garden there were specially made orchids for different VIPs who visited the garden, there were orchids made specially for Princess Diana, Margaret Thatcher, Queen Elizabeth, and Laura Bush to name a few as well as a lot of other foreign dignitaries.

Princess Diana Orchid.

All were new and different and really cool to see unfortunately some of the plants did not have flowers so I didn't get to see what they looked like. After spending some time in the VIP garden we continued to explore the garden. We had heard that Will and Kate had their own orchid and we went in search of it, we originally assumed it would be in the VIP garden, it wasn't so we went in search of the celebrity garden. We walked under some willows and ended up in another garden in a semi-outdoor greenhouse where there was an even greater variety of orchids. This area I felt like had more of the vibrantly colored orchids there were a lot more reds and purples here than in any other part of the garden. Once we exited the this garden we went to the Cool House which had rain forest plants and the best part of it was it was a very cold greenhouse. Once we were through the Cool House we were near the exit and we knew we hadn't seen everything so we back tracked a bit and found that we had missed the whole center of the garden, once we found out how to get there we found the celebrity garden which had orchids for celebrities like Picasso and Andrea Bocelli. The celebrity section was a bit disappointing and we still had not found Will and Kate's orchid. After one last search through the garden we finally gave up, maybe there wasn't one or maybe it hadn't been put out in the garden yet. We were starting to get hot and it was close to midday, we were also getting hungry. We went back to the restaurant we were at earlier and I had a lovely sandwich then once we were finished we caught a cab back home so I could freshen up and pack for my trip back to Bangkok. Louise was worried that I wanted to do something else, but I was quite happy with my trip. I had done everything I wanted to do and I wanted to relax before I headed to the airport. Right before I needed to leave it began to rain, which means that in Singapore taxis become very difficult to catch.

We called a taxi call dispatch and there were no taxis available so we tried another dispatcher. As we were on hold I started to get more and more worried that I would not get a taxi and would miss my flight. The second dispatcher had no taxis available so we tried the first company again and luckily it seemed like a taxi had just dropped off someone in the area and it would be at the house in 3 minutes. I had just grabbed my bag and the taxi was already outside, so I gave Louise a quick good bye and thanked her for her amazing hospitality then made my way to the airport. I got to the airport relatively quick and was there a good 2 hours before my flight, but the line was incredibly long and there were only two desks opened. If I was worried about not making my flight because of my taxi I was really worried waiting in this line. Eventually they opened some more desks and I was finally on my way to the terminal. At the Singapore airport I did not have to go through security first so I just wandered around duty free and picked up some very nice perfume and used some free wifi. As it was getting close to boarding time I stocked up on western candy, skittles and Cadbury chocolate, and started to make my way to my gate. I showed up on time and I was one of the last people on the plane, I couldn't believe that had happened I am never the last person to anything I am usually too early and am waiting on the plane forever. My plane ride to Bangkok was quite uneventful we left a bit late and arrived a bit late to Bangkok but it wasn't too bad. What really sucked was passport control, just getting to the passport control counter took me 45 minutes. Once I finally made it to the officer I made an effort to show the passport officer my re-entry permit because the last time I left the country the officer stamped my passport incorrectly and I had to go all the way out to immigration for an extra trip which is no fun at all. So as I am standing there the immigration officer waves me over to his side to ask me questions. I originally thought I was in trouble for something when he all of a sudden says "you are a teacher" I answer "yes" with a slightly concerned look on my face then he says "at Wall Street" I hesitantly say "yes." He goes on to say that "I was at Wall Street today, no body spoke to me in Thai." Whew! I said "Oh Really! That is what is suppose to happen, what center were you at?" He said "Seacon" me "Oh that is close to where I live, but I work at Siam" he then said "oh that is probably where I would study" I said "cool" he then stamped my passport and I was on my way. Singapore was a lot of fun and I was sad to come back to reality maybe in the future I could make my way back to Singapore to work! Fingers Crossed!

Singapore Pictures     
Singapore Botanical and Orchid Garden

Chiang Mai

With Cindy visiting I took an extra day off one week so we could travel somewhere on a 3-day weekend. Cindy didn't care where we went and I wanted to go somewhere I hadn't been before. So I chose Chiang Mai, in the north of Thailand, because ever since I read about the city in one my books I have always wanted to go. I originally wanted to work there but jobs are much harder to find there so I settled on Bangkok. We found a reasonably priced flight from Bangkok that left pretty early Tuesday morning and got us back at a reasonable hour Thursday night. Thanks to some of the PTs at work I was able to book a very nice hotel in a great location near the Tha Pae gate,

 which is near loads of temples, restaurants, and shops. We had to wake up Tuesday morning extremely early jumping on one of the first BTS trains all the way to Mo Chit. This was going to be the first time I flew out of Don Muang, the domestic/ low cost airport of Bangkok. I was unsure of how long it would take to get there so I wanted to leave even earlier. We made it to Don Muang with plenty of time and you could tell this was the low cost airport because there weren't too many restaurants or stores, it also looked like it still needed some updating. Our flight was pretty uneventful we flew Nok Air which is a very low cost  airline but we managed to get the exit row and we were given Auntie Anne's pretzels. We landed right on time in Chiang Mai, immediately got a taxi that cost us 120 baht and got us to our hotel relatively fast. We arrived way before check-in, but fortunately the hotel let us check-in early. Once we were settled in our room we jumped on the free wifi to figure out what to do while in Chiang Mai. Cindy really wanted to ride an elephant so that was definitely on the schedule and we found lots of other activities like white water rafting and zip lining but the tours we were finding were way too expensive. There was a tour agency in the building so we decided to take our chances and see what we could find. We picked up a couple of pamphlets and Cindy found this one package that had everything we wanted: orchid farm, long neck village, white after rafting, bamboo rafting, zip lining, elephant riding, visiting a waterfall, and it included lunch. We thought it would be too expensive, but we asked how much it cost and the tour people told us 1400 baht. I was shocked I asked again to clarify and they said yes 1400 baht. We decided to book the tour hoping this tour wasn't too good to be true. After that was all figured out we went to explore the city of Chiang Mai. We walked down one of the main avenues to look at temples. The temples in Chiang Mai were absolutely gorgeous, so many of the temples had gorgeous details around the windows, doors, and entrance gates. It felt like every 10 steps we took down this road there was another entrance to a temple. We walked all the way to the end of the road where we ended up at the big temple of Chiang Mai, Wat Pra Singh. What is exhausting about temples is that you must constantly takeoff your shoes and that day I decided to wear my converse so I was constantly up and down putting on and taking off my shoes.

What we liked about this temple was all the cool Buddhist sayings spread throughout the complex. Once we finished here we went in search of lunch, we stopped at this cute little place that served western as well as Thai food. It had old furnishings and knickknacks, we sat next to an old TV with an old telephone on top. The food was ok I ordered red curry and got green curry (not my favorite) but man did it hold a punch. I do ok when eating Thai food and this green curry was normal spicy but the spicy stayed in my mouth much longer than the same curry would in Bangkok. I had heard that Chiang Mai food was spicier than Bangkok food, I now believe it. After lunch we went to the three king's monument which was a nice break from the temples and we decided to head to another popular temple on the way back to the hotel. This place was just as big as the other temple, it had a giant mount in the middle as well as a giant tree that cold be seen throughout old town Chiang Mai. Mid-way through exploring this temple Cindy and I started feeling the effects of waking up so early, the heat with the lack of sleep was making us quite tired. We decided to grab some water and head back to the room to relax. Once back in the room I passed out on the bed. I had been going full speed for weeks so anytime I got time to sleep I usually did. Cindy went to sleep for a bit and once we both got up and cleaned up we decided to go in search of dinner. I had been craving pizza for a while so we agreed on Italian. We found a little place down an alley near the gate and our hotel. It was a cute little place, I had a seafood pizza with a good amount of seafood and Cindy had pasta. We then split a butterscotch sundae which was heavenly, then we headed back to the hotel. While we were out it began to rain so we didn't want to get caught in the rain and we wanted to be fully rested for our adventure the next day.

We woke up early the next morning so to get coffee and be ready to meet up with our tour at 8:30. We found a great little place down the road, the only problem was that it took forever to get our coffee. We had to hurry back to the hotel thinking that we were late but our tour guide didn't come until 8:45. He was an odd man and we heard him before we saw him. He was screaming my name throughout the hotel, Cindy and I were then known as the Nee-Cole group. Throughout the day anytime we were needed I would hear my name and we came a walking. Once in the van there was a family of 4 which we learned were from Canada, but were Filipino. We picked up 2 Korean girls and a Chinese couple and then we were on our way. The first place we went was the butterfly and orchid farm. When we first got there we were given a small orchid which was pinned to our shirts. We then walked into the butterfly farm, which was a bit disappointing. There weren't too many butterflies and it was quite small. We quickly went through to see the orchids. I love orchids, they are one of my favorite flowers. At this farm there were aisles upon aisles of orchids in all kind of shapes and colors.

I hadn't seen some of these orchids before so it was a real treat to visit the orchid farm, unfortunately we were there for only 15 minutes and before we knew it "Nee- Cole" was being yelled across the farm, then we were back in the van. We then ventured into the hill country to go to a long neck village. It is a community of mainly women that make handmade crafts such as jewelry, fabric, and souvenir items. They are called long-necks because from infancy women have these metal rings placed around their neck and as they age more rings are added as their neck stretch. It was a small community and I felt bad taking pictures of these women, I felt like they were a tourist attraction instead of women trying to make a living making crafts. The women really didn't seem to mind people taking pictures I think they were just happy if we bought something.

I picked up a piece of jewelery and Cindy bought some items, then we headed back to the van to head off to our next adventure. Next on the agenda was white water rafting, it took us forever to get to the place where we would start white water rafting. It was at the top of a mountain and it took ages to get there. The roads were all a bit rocky and a little bit muddy due to the previous evening's rains. Originally we weren't sure when we were going to go white water rafting due to the mud on the roads and had the roads been worse we probably would have had to wait till later in the day when the roads dried up a bit. The ride up the mountain as interesting, when we went up hill we had to open all the windows so that the driver could turn off the air conditioning so all the power was used for the engine. Thankfully there was a lovely breeze and the ride up was heavenly. Once we got to our spot we were told to leave all our items in the van and remove our shoes. Stupidly Cindy and I did not bring a spare change of clothes but at least we did bring some small towels. I was honestly worried about leaving all of my stuff in the van. What if my bag was stolen? What would I do? I had to push these thoughts out of my head and get ready for my first ever rafting experience. We were in a boat with three other people, we were given a crash course in what to do such as where to sit, where to place our feet, and how to hold the paddle. I as surprisingly nervous because I couldn't remember everything and I Thought I would screw up and cause us to crash. The river itself was a bit dirty, not polluted dirty, but full of dirt dirty. The rains had caused all the mud and dirt from the mountains to run into the river, I just made sure I didn't open my mouth. White water rafting was fun and not as hard as I thought it would be. We had a good guide who was pretty talkative and who liked to have lots of fun. Whit water rafting at times was a bit tiring, but what was worse was that my knee was killing me. With the way my feet and legs had to be positioned my knee was put in an odd position and it really didn't like it. I was constantly stretching out my knee and I constantly needed to move the knee around. We traveled a good distance down the river and were greeted at a new spot with our van. We all cleaned up and dried off before going to our next location. When I got back in the van I immediately checked my bag and everything was safe, which eased my mind for the rest of the day. We traveled down the mountain to what looked like the tour company's base camp. There were man groups of people and vans. We were here to have lunch and then ride elephants. Lunch was a basic Thai Buffet of rice, fruit, sweet and sour vegetables, coconut soup with chicken, green curry, stir fried vegetables, and pad thai. It was nothing special but just nice to have something in my belly. Once we had all finished we had to cross the river that ran alongside the lunch pavilion to the place where the elephants stayed.

The bridge to cross the river was quite sketchy. There was a lot of holes and extra planks nailed in numerous places. We safely made it across and we got Cindy on her elephant. Sadly they had to bring over the bigger elephant for us, we got on and were on our way. The terrain here was much more treacherous than the terrain the last time I rode an elephant and at points I really thought we were going to fall off our seat. The elephant was going in ditches and up small paths I could not believe how well it was doing. No wonder the elephant was used for many things like logging and transportation. After we made it through the tough part the mahout got off and let Cindy sit on its neck, she was beyond thrilled. It took her a bit to get used to the movement of the elephant, but she got used to it just like I did. She wanted me to hold on to her shirt like mom did with me. I was not sure why because if she fell there would be no way I could save her. We trekked across the field to a lady in a tree who who was selling sugar cane and we were kind of obligated to buy a bag. Cindy ended up feeding her elephant, Earl, she really had a lot of fun. Even when she ran out of sugar cane Earl was still lifting his trunk up for more. We then traveled to the river so the elephant could rehydrate and cool off. It was really fun being on the elephant as if was splashy around the river. Thankfully the elephant didn't get us too wet. After that we went back to the home base. I think the path back was much more treacherous than the path out to the field. There were points on the journey back where I was afraid I was going to fall out of my seat. There is no telling how Cindy felt being on the neck of the elephant. When we got back to the platform I nearly fell off the elephant when it stopped.

The mahout meet us at the top of the platform, where I gave him a tip. He was extremely grateful and wasn't expecting it. We crossed the bridge back to the camp to put on our zip lining equipment. The harnesses we not the comfiest things in the world but it is a lot better than falling to your death. Once the group of us were all geared up we made our way to the zip lining platforms. We had to walk through the elephants which was quite scary. I wasn't sure if one of the elephants would get spooked and then wreck havoc. We had to walk a fair distance uphill. About 75% through our trek I had to stop because I was severely out of breath. When I looked back Cindy and one of the Korean ladies were pretty close but the rest of the group was far behind. Our tour guide couldn't believe we were tired. He started laughing and making fun; that would juts be the beginning. Once we made it to the first platform we immediately connected to the tethers around the tree and we were told to always be on a line, I guess just in case we fall. We were also given this bamboo stick thing shaped like a hook which we found out was our brake. We were given the safety spiel and then we were off. Unfortunately we couldn't bring our camera, I would have loved to have taken some photos from atop the trees. There were two guys as our guides, one to get us on the line at the platform and one to get us off the line at the next platform. I don't know why but our guide thought it was fun to poke fun at our weight, he was always making comments about not being sure if the clasp could hold our weight. It was really disheartening especially when there was a tall Chinese man who easily weighed more but the guide kept on about our weight. I guess it is just a Thai thing women are just not suppose to be larger, so when you do see one you make a comment. Zip lining was so much fun, you had short sections and long sections, there were lines that went up where you didn't need to use the brake and lines that slopped down so you had to use the brake. There was also two areas where you had to drop down a hole to the platform below, which was nice change of pace. Using the brake was a bit scary because you had to rely on the guide to tell you when to break and sometimes you didn't hear him or you couldn't get your brake to catch. Also sometimes we went two at a time which was quite fun. On one of the last platforms we had a long drop down to the bottom of the platform and I was the last on in on the top platform so the guide just grabbed me attached the rope to my back and pushed me out over the hole. I was a little shocked and scared, I had no idea where to put my hands so I decided to just grab my chest and hope for the best. It was so much fun, but I had gotten to the bottom platform too fast and the other guide was not there waiting for me so I had to just stand around and wait till he could unhook me. We had finally reached our last platform and we were to cross the river and they attached the hook to our back so that we could be Superman. Cindy and I went first, it was a lot of fun and we got a pretty cool picture out of it.

After we took off all of our gear we got back in the van and headed towards the waterfall. It was a small waterfall which had a resort built around it. It was still very beautiful and the resort was pretty cool. After spending a little bit of time there exploring we went back to the base camp to do our last activity, bamboo rafting. A bamboo raft is 8 to 10 long bamboo shoots tied together and placed on top of an exact replica and then the two are tied together. Then wooden blocks are added so people can sit down while floating down the river. We had two guides who used long bamboo sticks to push/guide us down the river, it was just like riding a gondola in Venice. Once again we couldn't take our camera which was again disappointing because we would have gotten some great shots. It did rain a bit when we were on the raft, it seemed to be the theme of the day whenever we were on or near the water it rained. After about 30 minutes on the river we met our guide at the van and went back into town. It was a much shorter trip getting back to our hotel. We tipped our very nice guide and immediately went to our room to shower. After we were all cleaned up we went in search of food. We tried to find this good burger and wing place called "Pinkys" but couldn't seem to find it so we went to this other burger place called, "Mike's Original Burgers." It was pretty good, I was just so exhausted that I wasn't much company to Cindy. After dinner we walked back towards our hotel and had an ice cream before retiring for the evening. All in all it was a really great day, I got to do two things I had never done before and Cindy got to ride her elephant.

The next day we were leaving Chiang Mai later in the afternoon so we decided to walk around the city some more before heading to the airport. We walked down the main road to go to a few of the remaining temples we wanted to visit and then we decided to go back to the hotel to check out and store our bags.

Beautiful details of a temple.

We went for lunch at the Tiger Kingdom restaurant, we thought there would be tigers there unfortunately it was just a restaurant. On Trip Advisor Tiger Kingdom had received a lot of good reviews so we decided to try it out. The food was surprisingly good and very inexpensive. Once we finished with lunch we decided to explore more of the old city particularly the little shops and art galleries. We did experience a downpour so we had to duck into a coffee shop for about an hour or so; I enjoyed a strawberry milkshake, which I hadn't had in ages, but it tasted more like strawberry jam mixed with vanilla ice cream. Once the rain had cleared we continued to walk back to the hotel stopping in cute little shops and doing some shopping. We stopped in numerous little art galleries and if I had a home I would have purchased more pieces. I ended up buying this little colorful piece of an elephant, so now I have art from Cambodia, Hong Kong, and Thailand. When I go to Singapore I am going to have to find something there too.  As we neared the hotel we decided to check out this little two story shopping center next to the hotel. A lot of the stores were not filled but a couple had some interesting stores and as we went to the second floor where we found this store that had painted earrings, rings, bracelets, and necklaces. The woman who owned the shop had a huge collection of earrings starting small and moving up in size and price. All the jewelry was really cheap and all hand painted. As we looked around the store the woman was in the corner painting earrings. I ended up buying two pairs of earring, I would have bought more but the problem I have is buying earring with nothing to match them with so that I would end up not wearing them. At least with these two pairs of earring I already had stuff to wear them with. Once we pretty much went to every store in Chiang Mai, Cindy and I decided to go to the airport early. We would just sit around and hope to catch an earlier flight.

Cute Shops and Art Galleries

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We made it back to the hotel picked up our bags and grabbed a surprisingly inexpensive tuk-tuk to the airport. We arrived too early  and were unable to check in so Cindy went to get some Burger King, I will not eat at Burger King so I sat with her while she ate. That took up enough time and when we went back downstairs we were allowed to check-in and get our tickets. The Chiang Mai airport is not very big, it reminds me a lot of the Key West airport, there really wasn't much to do but sit and wait. We finally boarded the plane and would be in Bangkok soon. When we got to Don Muang we waited forever for a taxi, the taxi setup at Don Muang is a complete mess. They really need re-organize seeing that Air Asia and other low cost airlines are making it a much busier airport. Once we finally got in the taxi the driver tried to take the toll way. I said "no, highway, it's not busy." He kept saying "oh very busy, traffic jam." I responded "no, no traffic jam" he said "oh there will be" I said "no I travel from Rangsit all the time no traffic." He didn't get on the tollway and guess what we never got stuck in traffic until we got to the Mo Chit BTS stop. I hate when they do this crap I am not stupid so stop trying to scam the white person. Unfortunately when we got to Mo Chit it was raining so we got a little wet in the transfer from the taxi to the escalator, but fortunately we got a seat on the BTS and could relax as we went to the other end of Bangkok, thankfully it wasn't raining when we got home. Chaing Mai was awesome I wish I could have spent more time there, I definitely recommend Chiang Mai to everyone.